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Letter: Victims of daily violence should get marathon-style support

Thank you, Jamaica Plain Gazette, for remembering the fifth anniversary of the murder of Luis Troncoso (“JP’s earlier Patriots’ Day crime,” April 26), and for your editorial in this past issue, “Boston’s daily terrorism.”

Every human being is precious. After the bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, our elected officials marshaled an extraordinary effort to unite Boston to raise funds for the victims, and the media recounted their life stories, counseled residents about the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder, and investigated the failings of local law enforcement to prevent this criminal act.

As of today (May 31), 44 Boston residents have been shot since the marathon, according to Blackstonian. Sixteen have been killed so far this year. By and large, these victims’ stories are not told, public officials aren’t rallying corporations and residents to support survivors, and media are not holding law enforcement accountable.

These lives are as valuable, and the cumulative trauma of the daily reality of violence and death casts a long shadow in our midst. Largely hidden from public view, grassroots organizations, faith communities and networks of survivors are filling in where institutions are absent. We all have a role to play to truly unite Boston in rallying support for these families, rebuilding community infrastructure, and holding our city’s institutions accountable.

Judy Goldberger

Jamaica Plain

anotherBostonian

If they were all white perhaps they would…

anotherBostonian

You don’t get the high of fighting terrorism with your $ like you do helping regular people all around you. G.W. Bush got us hooked on fighting terrorism. The media fed that snake with two shovels in every hand. Oh yeah, the victims were all white too. Had that bomb blown up nonwhites they would have swept the bodies into the gutter and said “move along, nothing to see here”.But then the marathons route would not be what it is. Racial segregation is alive and well in Boston and beyond. America doesn’t talk much about racial inequality but it flows from every non-story about some blacks folks dying, to every front page covering the white victims of “terrorism” AKA two Russians.